“Ahead of the Curve: Local attorney focuses on building relationships, patent management,” Oakland County Legal News, February 2, 2017

With a father who believes in making or restoring things instead of buying off the shelf, patent attorney Nicholas Drysdale was always a “tinkerer” from childhood.

“I often resorted to at least trying to build or fix something instead of buying new,” says Drysdale, an attorney with Harness Dickey in Troy. “I helped my father transplant an engine from one car to another when I was 5 years old, and I’ve helped perform several other engine transplants since.”

At the age of 9, Drysdale built (from parts) and programmed his first personal computer, an IBM compatible 286 running MS DOS. His early love for computers helped him keep up with, and often be an early adopter of, the latest tech advancements—and this boyhood interest in how things work developed into a passion for helping clients protect their innovations.

Drysdale’s first step along his career path was a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering with a second major in systems engineering, both with honors, from Oakland University. Rather than working in the engineering field, he went on to earn his J.D. from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, where he was in the top 8 percent in his class, and enjoyed the large and diverse classes.